My 8/27/2012 blog post:

http://smartblogs.com/education/2012/08/28/the-connected-educator-call-duty-2/

Would it not be great for a generation of our kids to see this image on every lamp post.
http://www.shapingtomorrow.com/content/trends1000/greencity-3.jpg

The Science of Social Media from HubSpot on Vimeo.

Dan Zarrella visited Harvard and shared some of his research about the science of social media as it applies to marketing.  Dan attends many events where  people share social media advice and most of it is what he calls ‘unicorns and rainbows.’

Stuff like ‘engage in the conversation’ or ‘hug your followers.’ It’s good sounding advice, and hard to disagree with. He says, “I am not going to tell you to punch your customers in the face. The problem is that it’s not based on anything more substantial than what ‘feels right’ typically”. Dan likes to get beyond the unicorns and rainbows, into the real data, the real science about why people behave the way they do online and how marketers can leverage that behavior.
Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/9068/The-Science-of-Social-Media-Video.aspx#ixzz1EWg8EVcS

Experts “say the whole of the strengths, innovation, knowledge and experience gained from having generational diversity at the office is greater than the sum, and well worth the effort.”  Read more …

Think about your school district’s hiring and strategic committee make up.  Also put a plug into including strategic and thoughtful positions for students in your work.  Not just token students, but working students with a voice.  Exceptional authentic work.

Bob Sutton writes:  Ignorance of “obvious” facts and codes of behavior can lead non-experts to come up with radically creative solutions, Sutton adds, so it’s always worth adding a handful of novices, or even children, to your team of innovation advisers.

Seemingly you can have too many advisers or committee members who drink the same Kool-aid(R).  I would wholeheartedly agree.

Also http://metacool.typepad.com/metacool/2009/04/see-and-hear-with-the-mind-of-a-child.html

http://www.incentivemag.com/article.aspx?id=6802

An article I will come back to in a later post.

Golden Rule #1: Run your meetings as you would have others run the meetings that you attend.

Golden Rule #2: Be prepared and ensure that all the participants can be as well.

Golden Rule #3: Stick to a schedule.

Golden Rule #4: Stay on topic.

Golden Rule #5: Don’t hold unnecessary meetings.

Golden Rule #6: Wrap up meetings with a clear statement of the next steps and who is to take them.

GovLeaders.org http://govleaders.org/meetings.htm

I wonder if the debates over increasing health insurance and affordable health care and the debates over working toward excellence in all schools are not related.  What do you think?

Are those with means, the proverbial “Have’s”, increasingly blind to the less fortunate and are becoming less willing to move to more equity to provide similar or equitable opportunities to high quality education and an affordable health care system? 

This is an incomplete thought with no magic solution on my part, but it causes me to wonder as I listen and read about the debates and editorializing.

I had a great time at the Teacherscape.com Leadership Institute.  One of the quick think abouts that was shared was in hiring new teachers.  The speaker reminded us that few if any new teachers are really great teachers their first year or two.  There is too much to learn that even the best of intern experiences would be challenged to provide.  His thought for hiring was to make sure you are hiring learners as well as the learned.  You want teachers who are demonstrably good learners and will take advantage of all of the professional learning opportunities you as a principal, school and district provide.   I liked this idea.  10/05/09- Charleston, SC